Inside Meta’s Indianapolis bootcamp for data center technicians

Meta pledged $115 million Tuesday toward a bootcamp in Indianapolis where the company will train thousands of technicians to build the physical infrastructure of AI.

The company calls it the “largest private-sector commitment to the skilled trades with a job guarantee in American history.”

America’s Workforce Academy will pay trainees while they earn industry-recognized credentials in construction trades —  complete with paid airfare, lodging and a daily stipend, as well as free tuition and a guaranteed job with a Meta contractor upon completion of the five-week program.

Meta is piloting the bootcamp in Indianapolis, Baton Rouge, Houston and Columbus, Ohio, as it seeks to quickly train skilled workers to lay fiber optic cables and build data centers to power artificial intelligence systems across the U.S.

“The AI revolution is bringing change but also historic opportunities,” Dina Powell McCormick, Meta president and vice chair, said in a statement. “Skilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time. They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II. Now, a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.”

U.S. Sen. Todd Young applauded the move, saying he was “glad to see this new initiative, which will help Hoosier workers pursue careers in the skilled trades through additional training opportunities.”

How it works

The company broke ground earlier this year on a $10 billion data center in Lebanon and is finishing construction of another data center in Jeffersonville.

At peak, Meta estimates the Lebanon project will create 4,000 construction jobs, making Indianapolis an ideal location to act as a pilot site.

The company is working with the Boone County Economic Development Corporation and Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana and Kentucky to recruit trainees.

Diana Doukas, director of global external affairs for Meta, said the company expects to begin training data center technicians later this year.

Technicians will learn the basics of construction trades: occupational safety, construction math, rigging and drawing, as well as electrical, mechanical and plumbing skills, she said.

Once finished, they’ll earn credentials through the National Center for Construction and Education Research.

They’ll also earn a certificate from America’s Workforce Academy, designed by Meta to travel with trainees across employers and industry sectors — no prior experience necessary.

Graduates will immediately be placed in jobs with Meta contractors at construction sites like the one in Lebanon.

Meta will welcome the first cohort of fiber installers through a similar bootcamp in Indianapolis known as Level Up in July, with additional trainees onboarded each week until job needs are met, Doukas said.

“Our intent is to place people locally from the training and onto the sites,” she said.

Applications will be available online at meta.com/americasworkforceacademy.

Meta’s other commitments

America’s Workforce Academy is the latest financial commitment from Meta.

The company pledged $100,000 toward a career collaboration with local high schools, as well as other financial contributions to Boone County, when it accepted a 35-to-50-year sales tax exemption from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation for the Lebanon data center.

The sales tax exemption is conditioned upon job creation and capital investment.

Now, Meta needs to quickly train crews to build the site amid what it calls a “massive” shortage of skilled workers in the trades.

Michael Bellaman, president and CEO of the Associated Builders and Contractors, praised the bootcamp as a career pipeline for the trades.

“The sustained demand for data center construction technicians means the industry needs an all-of-the-above approach to address this shortage and grow the construction talent pool,” he said in a news release. “This important new partnership reaffirms that the construction industry offers careers of choice in today’s complex job market. These new entrants may be beginning their careers on data center projects but by learning multiple competencies, are starting a life-long career in construction with near limitless possibilities.”